CMT Insider: Jamey Johnson Humbled by Music Industry’s Support

Jamey Johnson‘s friends and supporters from the music industry came out in droves last week when he was presented a gold album for his Mercury Nashville release, That Lonesome Song. Among the well-wishers gathering at BMI’s offices on Nashville’s Music Row were the Oak Ridge Boys, Little Big Town‘s Phillip Sweet and Kimberly Schlapman and Alabama‘s Teddy Gentry along with songwriting legends Bill Anderson and Hank Cochran.

In an interview with CMT Insider, Johnson talked about how it feels to achieve such a milestone in his career.

“It’s indescribable,” he said. “That’s all I can tell you. It’s good to see an entire industry out here celebrating this thing with us, and we’ve got like four or five different record labels represented out here today … To have all these other artists … all these people … coming out supporting us, just feels good. It feels the way I hoped Nashville was going to feel when I got here — one big family of artists and writers, publishers and managers and label people when everybody is pulling together. It seems right to me right now.

“I’ve heard women say you don’t remember the labor pains, you just love the baby. And I guess that’s where we are right now. It doesn’t matter what happened before this. This is where we are right now, so I’m very proud, very humbled.

That’s the best feeling at the end of the night. I remember working for six and seven bucks an hour, and if you’re going to go pay 20 bucks to get into a concert, you know some of these guys are having to work five and six hours just to be able to come see us by themselves. And if they’re gonna bring a date, they’ve got to work two or three days. I don’t forget that. That weighs heavy on my mind, and we try to give them the best show and just play them the kind of country music they come out to see and hear. And when we get done, my favorite part of the night is to go back out front and sign autographs and shake hands and meet the people who actually do support our industry.

“I’ll tell you what. This is just a proud day for me. I’m thankful to get to be out here and celebrate this with all these people.”